Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Carillon Clears First Hurdle as Council Approves Zoning on First Reading

By Nicholas Sakelaris

Staff Writer

Just minutes before midnight, the Southlake City Council approved a zoning change in a 6-to-1 vote for the 285-acre Carillon project on first reading on Monday.

Councilwoman Pamela Muller cast the dissenting vote.

Carillon is a mixed-use project planned between White Chapel Boulevard and Carroll Avenue north of Texas 114. The project dominated discussion at the meeting for three hours.

Nearby residents again opposed the project’s density, currently between 380 to 417 houses of varying size, including some attached units.

If 20 percent of the property owners within 200 feet of a project oppose it, the project must be approved by a super majority, or two-thirds, of the council. According to the city, 27.3 percent of nearby property owners oppose Carillon.

The final vote on the project will not be until Nov. 18, which is the next time the council expects to have all seven members present.

To approve the plan, council members say they want to see more density options and encouraged the developer, Hines Interests Ltd., to meet again with neighbors.

Hines had earlier offered to eliminate some park land to increase some of the lot sizes.

Mayor Andy Wambsganss said he doesn’t want to sacrifice the tree preserve just to make the lots bigger. He said he’d like to see how the project would look without the attached housing units, the Maisons, and how that would reduce the density.

Jeff Kennemer, of Hines, said the developer has already reduced the number of Maisons from 95 to at least 63. Eliminating more could affect the project so that it "wouldn’t even work," Kennemer said.

Katie Simpson, one of the leaders of the neighborhood opposition, said that homeowners concerns about density, which she described as "the main issue," has not been resolved. Simpson was critical of the process that has pitted the developer against nearby homeowners.

"It doesn’t feel right. We should be working together," Simpson said.

She pleaded with the council to table the project for a third time so Hines can work things out with neighbors.

For about an hour, Hines officials read over detailed architectural standards that govern every aspect of the project from the look of the façade to the locations for trash cans.

In other action, the council approved a site plan for phase 2 of The Shops at Southlake, which will include a 35,000-square-foot Nordstrom Rack.

The new Nordstrom store will be built east of DSW Shoes at the southeast corner of Southlake Boulevard and Carroll Avenue.

Also included in phase 2 is a 6,300-square-foot retail building adjacent to Nordstrom and a 8,700-square-foot restaurant with outdoor patio next to Bailey Banks & Biddle on the northwest side.

Tenants haven’t been announced for the other two buildings.

In other business, the council has amended the city’s subdivision ordinance to require that new utility lines be buried underground.

Running utilities underground is "significantly more expensive," but most new Southlake developments already do that for aesthetic reasons, said city planner Clayton Comstock. Developers will shoulder the expense.

The ordinance applies to electric, telephone and cable lines as well as terminals. Larger distribution and transmission lines are exempt.

Temporary lines are allowed for 12 months.